Silent Gratitude is No Use to Anyone
by Ems4179
Summary: A snippet of Faith's life before she got to Sunnydale.


Faith had literally been running for her life when she heard the screams and pleas for mercy. She took a millisecond to register the building she was entering as she dived in then pulled out her stake and got down to business.

When the vamp was dusted, she looked around the almost bare room with some interest. Certainly a nunnery would be the last place anyone would expect to find *her*. She turned her attention to the woman there, curious to see if this could be her haven. "Tell me Sister – why do you do this? Why do you lock yourself from the world in this one building, sitting in silent prayer, all day long?" She frowned in thought. "At least, that's what I've seen – y'know, on TV. It's what you do."

The other woman let out a soft sigh. "I used to be a heavy drinker – even went so far as to sell my body a few times for the chance of another drink. Mostly though, I stuck to stealing the wallets of passing innocents. I had been wasting my life away and had been more than happy doing it. Hell didn't seem such a terrible place to me.

One day however, things were different. I saw a guy, he was angry at me. Started chasing me… I have a good eye for faces, understand… I recognised him as a former victim and so I ran… straight into the path of a bus – not that I noticed of course."

She frowned and looked away; remembering the moment. "I had only time to register that I was going to die… and then I was shoved out of the way. Another man had appeared and saved me – to his cost."

She shook her head sorrowfully. "I went to see him in the hospital. Really, I should have been grateful that he'd risked his life for me, thankful to be alive… instead I needed to know *why*. He told me simply that he saw the potential for good in me…"

"How could he possibly see good in me? I'd slept with people for money for alcohol, I had stolen... yet here was a man, badly bruised and broken after saving me." She smiled faintly. "Of course I didn't pay much heed. Not at the start. I believe I even laughed in his face but his words just would not go away… every time I lifted a drink to my lips, every time I was about to steal a wallet. Finally, I had to start questioning myself – *was* there more to me than … what I had become?"

She smiled and looked up at the painting of Jesus. "I went to talk to a Priest here – heh, at that stage, I wasn't even Catholic. I believe my family was Presbyterian but it didn't matter to me. I needed to talk to someone. By the time I came out of the Chapel, I realised one thing – God had made himself known to me, He was the one telling me that there was more to me than that. He had been the one giving me another chance to save my own life, to do the right thing…"

Faith sighed. "So you became a nun, hiding in here, praying to your God. Sister, I hate to break it to you but silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. You're grateful that He kept you alive – as you should be. Why not get out there and actually save the lives of others? That's what I'd do if I was you."

The Nun frowned and seemed to shrink away from her, a look of almost-terror on her face. Faith sighed and shook her head – this woman was a coward, pure and simple. The other woman had been given a second chance and instead of taking it, she had hidden herself away. Admittedly, that was good on some level – no more stealing wallets. It wasn't Faith's way though. She couldn't simply hide herself away even for a short while as bad things happened in the world. She would *not* stand by and let innocent people die.

Besides, there was so much more to life, wasn't there? She liked the sex and the men and clothes and the cigarettes… well okay, not the cigarettes. But she loved the idea that if she *wanted* to, she could have them. She definitely loved the men! Nope, no Nunnery or Convent or whatever it was called for her. She was just five-by-five on her own.

Enough Dilly-Dallying. Onwards to Sunnydale. Surely the other – older - Slayer could help her defeat Him. Kakistos. And then… then the world was hers for the taking.


End file.
